A robot guides guests to the lobby of the Sheraton Hotel in in San Gabriel, Calif. on Tuesday, Aug. 28, 2018. The hotel uses a team of robots to assist guests with carrying their luggage, bring room service, assist in cleaning up rooms and hallways and more. (Photo by Trevor Stamp, Contributing Photographer)

So when the Sheraton Los Angeles San Gabriel Hotel was being built, its board wanted to take advantage of innovative technology and contacted Aethon, Inc. in Pittsburgh, creators of TUG robots. So when the hotel opened in January 2018, there were robots ready for duty.

“This TUG robot is currently in a lot of hospitals around the country,” Fred Kokash, Sheraton Los Angeles San Gabriel Hotel director of sales and marketing, said. “They deliver medication, they deliver food and linen to the guest’s rooms. A hospital is just like a hotel. We’re the first hotel in the country to have the TUG robot perform multiple different experiences.”

The Sheraton Hotel in San Gabriel uses a team of robots to assist guests with carrying their luggage, bring room service, assist in cleaning up rooms and hallways and more. One of the luggage carrying robots shown here on Tuesday, Aug. 28, 2018. (Photo by Trevor Stamp, Contributing Photographer)

The Sheraton Hotel in San Gabriel uses a team of robots to assist guests with carrying their luggage, bring room service, assist in cleaning up rooms and hallways and more. One of the luggage carrying robots shown here on Tuesday, Aug. 28, 2018. (Photo by Trevor Stamp, Contributing Photographer)

Sound

The gallery will resume inseconds

A robot guides guests to the lobby of the Sheraton Hotel in in San Gabriel, Calif. on Tuesday, Aug. 28, 2018. The hotel uses a team of robots to assist guests with carrying their luggage, bring room service, assist in cleaning up rooms and hallways and more. (Photo by Trevor Stamp, Contributing Photographer)

The Sheraton Hotel in San Gabriel uses a team of robots to assist guests with carrying their luggage, bring room service, assist in cleaning up rooms and hallways and more. Two of the luggage carrying robots shown here on Tuesday, Aug. 28, 2018. (Photo by Trevor Stamp, Contributing Photographer)

The Sheraton Hotel in San Gabriel uses a team of robots to assist guests with carrying their luggage, bring room service, assist in cleaning up rooms and hallways and more. One of the luggage carrying robots shown here on Tuesday, Aug. 28, 2018. (Photo by Trevor Stamp, Contributing Photographer)

A robot guides guests to the lobby of the Sheraton Hotel in in San Gabriel, Calif. on Tuesday, Aug. 28, 2018. The hotel uses a team of robots to assist guests with carrying their luggage, bring room service, assist in cleaning up rooms and hallways and more. (Photo by Trevor Stamp, Contributing Photographer)

Most of the hotel’s TUGs look like enclosed carts on wheels, but they have been made friendlier with an icon of a pink or blue butler painted on one side. They are all driven by wifi and regularly plug themselves in for a charge.

The robots work on programmed commands only and do not think ahead or make decisions, although they will stop if something is in their path and, if needed, go around the object before resuming the way to their task. Aethon remotely monitors the robots and alerts the hotel staff should one have any issues.

“We have eight TUG robots and we have named them,” Kokash said. “Right now Gabriel is the favorite. Gabriel is our wayfinder. He guides people to different areas from the lobby.”

Gabriel looks like a metal podium and is emblazoned with a blue butler icon. It is topped with an iPad that greets guests in the lobby displaying, “Where do you want to go?” in English and Chinese. Guests may select from a list of places throughout the hotel and Gabriel goes into action, guiding them to their spot and even telling doors to open.

The rest of the TUGs, such as Darsha, Rich and Tre, are platforms with changeable carts for luggage, room service, linen and trash.

“The robots are programmed to go around the hallways all day to either pick up trash from the room attendant carts or pick up or deliver clean and dirty linen, towels and sheets, to room attendant carts,” Kokash said.

The room attendants may also call for a robot to assist them with these duties as needed.

The robots are saving the workers time, which can now be used for other projects, such as shampooing carpets and cleaning baseboards, instead of stretching staff thin to complete these tasks.

The robots, said Kokash, will not be replacing workers.

“There has been no replacement of any jobs. We’ve actually been increasing job positions,” Kokash said.

Having a robot handle the luggage allows the bellman to chat with the hotel guest more easily than they would pushing a cart to their room, and guests may select room service delivery from a TUG if they wish. In both cases, the robot calls the room when it arrives, giving the guest a code that they use to open its compartment door to retrieve their bags or meals. And no, the robots don’t expect a tip.

The Sheraton Los Angeles San Gabriel Hotel plans to continue embracing new technology. It currently uses iPad ordering for its wine list at its Est. steakhouse and may eventually incorporate it for the menu at its new Cantonese restaurant, Opal.

“If you really think about the world today, (my cell phone) is a robot. Robotics and AI are in almost everything in our lives. You’ve got self-driving cars now, that’s a robot,” Kokash said. “What’s different is we’re in a hotel.”

Michelle Mills has been an entertainment and features reporter for the Southern California News Group since 1999. She has interviewed such notables as Weird Al Yankovic, Glen Campbell, Alice Cooper, Debbie Allen, Ernest Borgnine (during an earthquake) and Adam Young (Owl City). She was the 31st Occasional Pasadena Doo Dah Parade Queen reigning 2007-2009. She is a professional belly dancer (swordwork is her specialty) and also studies Polynesian and Tahitian dance.

Join the Conversation

We invite you to use our commenting platform to engage in insightful conversations about issues in our community. Although we do not pre-screen comments, we reserve the right at all times to remove any information or materials that are unlawful, threatening, abusive, libelous, defamatory, obscene, vulgar, pornographic, profane, indecent or otherwise objectionable to us, and to disclose any information necessary to satisfy the law, regulation, or government request. We might permanently block any user who abuses these conditions.

If you see comments that you find offensive, please use the “Flag as Inappropriate” feature by hovering over the right side of the post, and pulling down on the arrow that appears. Or, contact our editors by emailing moderator@scng.com.

[…] being added to other types of businesses to do things that employees also do. In San Gabriel new robots have been added to help at the Sheraton Los Angeles San Gabriel Hotel, while a burger making robot named Flippy is in service at Caliburger in […]